Saturday, 4 June 2016

Four
mothers. Four teenage daughters. An isolated tropical paradise with no
internet or mobile phone reception. What could possibly go wrong?

There's
tension, bitchiness, bullying, sex, drunken confessions, bad behaviour
and breakdowns - and wait till you see what the teenagers get up to . . .

How
can we let our daughters forge lives of their own when what we most
want to do is hold them close and never let them go? How do we let them
grow and keep them protected from the dark things in the world at the
same time? And how can mothers and daughters navigate the troubled,
stormy waters of adolescence without hurting themselves and each other?

Nayu's thoughts

For some reason I thought this was
about a plane crash on a deserted island that had women and their
teen girls stranded). I was glad that wsn't the case, as I was
reading it because I wanted see the interactions berween the
mothers and daughters, rather than their circumstance. At first it
was a little tricky for me to get a grasp on who each character is
and who they are related to because there are about 5 of them in the
beginning, but I quickly got to know their unique personalities. It
was fascinating how different they all were! Each mother used a
different parenting style at the start and middle of the trip away
from home, so too did the daughters have different attitudes to being
in a rural and isolated situation. The mothers mostly enjoyed the
reunion of their long term friendship, having some jealousy over their
personal circumstances and how the other daughters were. Because of
their personalities they had a different view of the events that
unfolded, which in turn affected the relations they have with their
daughters.

Equally the teens are extremely different. My favourites
were shy Bronte who was a sweetheart, totally under valued and
overlooked by her mother, and Tess who lived on the island, was
excited about so much in life and not at all stroppy. Macey became a
favourite after she has a radical change which was delightful to
watch. As for Janey...no-one was perfect on the trip but she was so
disrespectful and definitely the bad girl. She views life as a big
joke and doesn't grasp issues of privacy (which lead to a positive
change in Bronte despite the horror of the incident) and thinks she
is ready for adult romance (which also leads to a positive change
after a truly awful experience).

I liked how many life incidents
occurred to the characters-some are hard to take like the near rape incident, some are
amusing and had me grinning away like when Bronte gives Janey a
deserved shock, some are sweet when one of the girls gets her first
period and is helped by someone unexpected. There is so muh to enjoy
that I know I'm going to pick out more details when I reread it! This
is a keeper, one for all mothers and daughters to share.

Hi, I'm Nayu!

About me

About me I'm a UK book reviewer who founded NRC in 2009. As well as books I'm addicted to anime, love gaming, and spend time coaxing novels out of my Muse. I'm at the early stage of the path to publication, and will release all news when I have it! ^o^ Sometimes there will be days without posts because I have to deal with chronic illness and chronic pain gremlins. Please be patient in the down times.

Thanks to my passion for languages I like to rest up watching anime in English, French, and Japanese. I also adore gaming and cross stitch. My crochet hobby has evolved in to my Etsy store and blog Nayu's Crochet Dreams, where I sell handmade blankets, dishcloths and other crochet goods.

My cat Belle loves curling on my lap when I read, although she gets a bit crabby when I crochet because she doesn't like the yarn draping over her. Needless to say she doesn't get a say in the matter!

I hope you enjoy Nayu's Reading Corner, which has lots to offer whatever you're interested in.